Minimum Wage

Libertarians advocate a world not of mandates, force, and decrees, but of voluntary agreements, opportunity, and freewill

On the surface, raising the minimum wage seems like an easy way to boost the fortunes of the poor and working class. Legislators simply decree that wages must be higher, and low-income workers would instantly be better off. Or would they?

To begin, it’s important to note that working people do have justifiable reason to be unhappy. Not long ago, the minimum of $6.15/hour was seen as sufficient. But not anymore. What happened?

The answer is that the dollar has been eroding in value. Since just the year 2000, the dollar has lost 25% of its purchasing power. It has lost an incredible 96% of its value over the past 100 years. It’s no wonder that many feel squeezed. This unstable valuation has put America’s financial system on a foundation of quicksand and jeopardized the living standard of every person, as employees find out that their earnings don’t buy as much as they once did, and as savers and seniors discover that their rainy-day funds and retirement accounts aren’t worth nearly as much as when they had worked to earn that money.

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The Libertarian Party is committed to America’s heritage of freedom: individual liberty and personal responsibility, a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity, a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace and free trade.